Marking 10 years in Greencastle

Tuesday

Jan 8, 2013 at 9:27 PM

Stephanie Ziebarth

About a week ago, on December 31, we pulled into our driveway shortly before midnight. We had just finished the journey from Minnesota to Pennsylvania during wintertime. We hit a blizzard on the way out and a snowstorm on the way home. This inclement weather reminded us why it’s difficult to return to Minnesota for Christmas very often.

Because we were exhausted from the demands of driving through snow, and because it was really late and one of our children was already asleep, we brought in the New Year without fanfare. We brought only the toiletries bag into the house. We got everyone to bed. We fell asleep.

What we didn’t recall until a couple days later was the fact that our arrival home also marked 10 years of living in Greencastle. That’s right: we became Greencastle residents 10 years ago on New Year’s Eve.

We had dinner at Pizza Hut that night. While there, the power went out. It did come back on, but it made an impression.

Then we went to Food Lion to pick up some groceries.

We had come from the north. When we told people we were moving to Pennsylvania, they said, “Out East, huh?” A few people mentioned, “Oh, you’ll be close to the Mason-Dixon line where you are!” That meant almost nothing to us.

But as I stood in the frozen vegetables section at Food Lion our first night in Greencastle, I began to wonder. Fried okra, collard greens… where were the broccoli and the French-cut green beans?

“I guess we moved closer to the South than I realized,” I said to my husband as I grabbed what we were willing to try. (Much to our amusement, we later learned that those were the only things LEFT as everyone cleared out the store in preparation for a coming winter storm.)

I’ll admit that it was fun to try fried okra for the first time.

Our trip to Minnesota to see family for Christmas was very special. We had a really great time and made some wonderful memories. Even being in the frigid temperatures watching nighttime parades and sledding was invigorating to us.

But it was good to arrive home. Greencastle is home now. Some years we even celebrate by eating New Year’s Eve dinner at Pizza Hut. Never, however, through the eating of fried okra.

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